The invention relates to devices as for changing individual parts of a frame for rimless eyeglasses or full-framed eyeglasses.
Eyeglass wearers are increasingly demanding glasses which are made to be changeable and in which lenses matched to individual requirements can be varied and combined with various eyeglass frames. In this respect reference is made to numerous proposals in the literature in which frames of rimless eyeglasses are connected to the lenses by screw connections such that connecting elements, holding members or the like are clamped or screwed on the eyeglass lenses so that the eyeglass wearer or optician can relatively easily replace one frame by another. This repeated replacement however leads to the difficulty that valuable lenses in conjunction with rimless eyeglasses can be easily damaged so that handling the lens when the frame is being changed is not accepted by the market.
(US 2004/0169815 A1) discloses a system for attachment of side arms to rimless eyeglasses in which the side arms are made interchangeable, so that the eyeglasses wearer can keep his lenses when he intends to change the appearance of his eyeglasses. Only the side arms, but not the bridge, are replaced in this connection. For this changing process there is an L-shaped screw arrangement with two opposing ends provided with threads. The fastening system consists of a screw which is to be connected to the side arm and a screw to be connected to the lens. The former is made for example roughly to the plane of the lens, the latter roughly vertically to the plane of the lens. A nut is placed on the screw which penetrates the lens, while the screw connection to the side arm is made as a pin which engages a recess on the edge of the lens, so that twisting is prevented. The fastening device can also be made in two parts in one alternative embodiment, in this version the shaft which penetrates the lens having one cylindrical end for holding the shaft and the screw attachment which is screwed to the earpiece is joined to the cylindrical part. This system constitutes solely a screw connection system with two different screw elements, which is designed for changing the side arms.
The subject matter of (US 2003/0058402 A1) is a fastening system for connecting eyeglass lenses to the side pieces and bridges of the eyeglass frame to prevent the connecting elements from becoming loose, falling out and being lost. For this purpose plug elements with plastic sleeves are used, the plug elements instead of screw threads forming catch-like elements which are locked in the plastic sleeves. These plug elements are routed through holes in the eyeglass lens and the assigned hole of the side piece of the eyeglass frame through the lens, therefore vertically to the plane of the lens and the corresponding interlocks in the axis of rotation of the side piece which holds the side arm are inserted so that thus conventional screw connections are undertaken by snap fastener-like plug connections in two planes of the eyeglasses which are perpendicular to one another in order to achieve replacement. This plug connection can generally be brought together and released only with a tool or considerable expenditure of force, in doing so there being the danger that the eyeglass lens and/or the earpiece will be damaged.
(U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,002 B1) describes attachment of side pieces with lenses. The side piece on its eyeglass-side end has two shafts, one of which is arranged through a hole in the lens and the other is located outside the eyeglass lens. The two shafts are connected by their free end in an attachment block. The two shafts have catch elements which are elastically flexible and are connected to catch in sleeves of the attachment block so that instead of a screw connection an unthreaded clamp connection is formed. This connection takes place vertically to the plane of the lens and is closed or opened in the manner of a snap fastener.
It is an object of the invention to make interchangeable eyeglasses with rimless lenses such that the connection between the lens, the carrier element and the connector to the side piece part has high stability, the carrier element connected to the lens is completely overlapped by the connector part, locking or catching between the carrier element and connector part yields exact coupling which is free of play, and mounting when the frames are being changed is especially simple and gentle to the parts. Furthermore the object of the invention is to propose interchangeable eyeglasses with a metal or plastic frame, in which the carrier element is connected to the frame over its entire length and is completely overlapped from the connector part to the side piece part, locking or catching between the carrier element and connector part yielding exact coupling which is free of play, and mounting when the frames are being changed can be done especially easily by the wearer of the eyeglasses without tools as often as wished.